1. Field of the Invention
The device of this invention resides in the area of laundry folding and stacking devices and more particularly relates to an apparatus for the receipt, folding, stacking and counting of small laundered pieces particularly napkins and the like after the pressing thereof.
2. History of the Prior Art
In commercial laundries wide-throated ironers, such as 5-roll American Hydros are commonly utilized for pressing sheets and smaller articles. The ironers can feed the pressed laundry, such as sheets, into sheet-folding machines, for example a Jensen Constellation, in order to mechanically fold such sheets after the pressing thereof. Other items are also fed through these wide-throated ironers. Since many of these items are smaller than sheets and cannot be folded by sheet folding machines, currently one must have individuals at the end of the ironer to catch the pieces and fold them by hand. Often if there are a plurality of people, usually four, feeding in small pieces, such as napkins into the ironers, then there must be an equal number of individuals to receive such pieces and fold them by hand when they come out of the ironer or exit on the conveyor belts of the folder, which folder cannot be utilized for folding purposes during small piece transport operation. In an attempt to mechanize small piece handling some machines have a perpendicular bar disposed at the end of the conveyor belt, and the small pieces travel and fall onto the bar. The bar may be supported by a bracket which has the ability to tip forward upon the receipt thereon of a particular predesignated count so that the napkins or other pieces travel onto the bar, fold over the bar, one after the other on top of each other. When the number of pieces reaches the preselected count, then the bracket tips the bar forward and those pieces are retrieved off the bar. Another method of gathering such pieces is for them to free fall off the end of the conveyor belt onto bars centrally supported in metal cages approximately the size of the piece so that the pieces drape across the bar. When a desired number has fallen on the bar, they are removed by a worker.